


Birds of no feather

by AliaMael



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Magical Realism, Mention of Drug Abuse, Odin (Marvel)'s A+ Parenting, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-14 20:47:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17515634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliaMael/pseuds/AliaMael
Summary: Not everyone get wings at puberty, but it’s common knowledge that most of the extraordinary people do. So it’s really no surprise that most of the Avengers do indeed have wings. Notallof them, though.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This idea wouldn't leave me alone, so here it is. It's 4am and I didn't really check my spelling so feel free to point my errors and other absurd typos ^^

The Black Widow, of course, has black wings. Not that she lets it be known outside of the restraint circle of people she trusts enough to have her back. Not because of the prejudice people with black wings sometimes suffer –inclined to evil, they whisper; psychopaths. The Black Widow wouldn’t care. But the power her tiny wings give her is to be forgettable, just a banal face amongst others, when she wants to. And she would never let such a tactical advantage be lost by showing her wings. So as far as the public knows, the Black Widow is wingless.

*

Captain America, of course, has white wings. After all, who else could wear such a symbol of goodness than him? They’re not the largest wings, but they are so immaculate that they are almost blinding in direct sunlight. Thanks to them, he can energize people around him. Where he leads a fight, everyone follows.

(Steve Rogers didn’t have wings, before the serum.)

*

(Bucky Barnes didn’t have wings either.

The Asset has large, dark as despair wings. With them, he’s silent, he’s fast, and he doesn’t leave traces behind him, be it in the dust of an old building or on fresh snow.)

*

Bruce Banner, to the surprise of absolutely no one, has white wings. They’re small, timid things, nervous like him, but they give him the power to project calm around him. In his Hulk form, he doesn’t have them, but as soon as he shifts back he’s always trying to reassure comrades and civilians alike.

*

Hawkeye has black wings. They’re just large enough that he can’t hide them like the Black Widow does and he bitches about it often enough that the Avengers learnt to tune him out. Thanks to the wings, though, he can blend into the shadows and become almost invisible as long as he’s immobile. So he doesn’t complain  _ too _ loudly.

*

Thor has white wings, with a slight golden shine that makes them otherworldly. When he calls his battle comrades “shield brothers”, the power of his wings makes it literal: he can magically shield a whole group.

(His mother, Frigga, has large white wings with a silver shine and is a very powerful healer. Odin’s wings are unique: a kaleidoscopic blend of white, black and greys, that stretch and stretch before slowly blending into the invisible, but suggest they encompass the whole world.

Loki is wingless.)

*

Tony Stark is wingless and proud. After all, who needs wings and their magic when you’re a genius who can just create whatever you want? No Stark ever needed wings to succeed.

(Pepper doesn’t have wings either, and that doesn’t stop her from staring down any winged person who’d try to give her shit because of it, so really, who needs wings to be badass?)


	2. Chapter 2

Since Loki’s been banned to Earth, he’s been a serious pain in the ass, but weirdly enough nothing more. If he had plans to conquer the world once more, they were either half-assed or very well hidden, because what he did looked more like obnoxious pranks.

(The more this went on, the more Tony was getting convinced that Loki just craved attention and had found no other way to get it that to make SHIELD panic and send the Avengers.)

Today, it was giant snowmen roaming the streets. The whole city was freezing, snow and ice paralyzing most of the traffic, people mostly at home, so it was not even that dangerous, but still, they had to put a stop to this before Loki got bored and started on the true destruction.

The fight was a well-oiled mechanic by this point, and Tony was honestly almost having fun. Loki too, if his mad grin was any indication.

Up until the point when a well placed punch of Steve sent Loki right into the ice-cold water of the nearby river. Tony went to hover closer, trying to anticipate where Loki would emerge.

Except that Loki didn’t.

Tony could see his blurry form going down, down in the water, and couldn’t shake the certitude that something was _wrong_. He didn’t think, just dived. His armor was waterproof but he could feel the cold trying to get to him. He caught Loki’s arm and got him back to the surface.

Loki fell to his knees, coughing water while trying to push Tony away.

“Don't… don’t look at me!” he screamed, panic making his voice crack.

Of course, staring was all Tony could do. Loki was _blue_ , with strange markings running along his skin, and…

“Brother, you… you have wings!” Thor exclaimed in a weird mix of shock and pleasure.

They were the largest wings Tony has ever seen. They were white as snow. They were beautiful.

“I don’t… I never…” Loki tried, before his red eyes opened wide to focus on his visible feathers. “How…”  
“Why is he blue?” Clint asked casually.  
“My brother is adopted, he’s not from Asgard,” Thor explained.  
“And the Allfather hid it from me,” Loki added with enough venom in his voice to make Tony flinch, “like he hid _my wings_!”  
“Brother…”  
“Don’t! You were not the one that got everyone scorn because you were wingless! Even the _Allfather_ made sure I knew how less of a person I was because of that, while he _knew_ it was _his lie_ all along!”

Loki finally got up, only to throw himself at Thor. Tony tensed, ready to get back into fighting mode, but Loki’s eyes stopped on a cut Thor had gotten on his cheek earlier. Loki tentatively put on finger on it, and it disappeared as if it had never existed. Loki broke down into hysterical laughter.

“Of course I can heal! Of fucking course! The only kind of magic I never, _never_ could master however hard I tried!”

Tony felt abject jealousy unfurl inside of him.

“Congrats on getting a cool power, Reindeer Games…” he snarled.

Loki rounded down on him, furious.

“How dare you,” he hissed. “You don’t know what it is to have someone calling himself your _father_ depriving you of your wings!”  
“Oh I don’t?” Tony screamed back.

In the shocked silence that followed, Tony’s prudence was engulfed by the fire of rage and he unlocked his armor to get out of it. The other Avengers tensed, but no one stopped him when he reached for the zipper of his suit to bare his back.

Several gasps broke the silence.

Tony didn’t need to see them to know that the scars that had been his wings were still red, still raw, as if they had just only stopped bleeding.

“Tony…” Steve tried, voice broken. “Did Howard…”  
“I did this,” Tony cut him, cold as ice. “I did this to myself because my _father_ hated wings, hated magic, said that no true Stark would rely on it, and I would have done _anything_ to make him hate me a little less. So tell me, Loki, do you still think I can’t understand?”  
“Do they… still hurt?” Loki asked, subdued and almost gentle.  
“Always,” Tony answered, the truth so long hidden spilling out of him. “Alcohol and drugs take the edge out, a shame I can’t always be wasted.”

Ice cold fingers caressed the scars, dulling the pain. Then it totally disappeared.

“What the…” Loki began.  
“Ok, you got ultra rad healing powers,” Clint commented.  
“What just happened?” Tony asked nervously.  
“Your wings are back, Tony,” Steve breathed out.

Tony broke down crying.

*

Tony Stark had small, white wings, and after some weeks of experimentation, he could explain that his power was to repair broken objects that hold emotional value. Not the most useful of powers, but it was _his_.

*

If fights with Loki got openly playful after that, it was none of SHIELD business.

*

Seven months later, Loki got the arc reactor and the shrapnel out of Tony’s chest.


End file.
